I just finished building a dedicated listening room in my new apartment. It took me one year and a half to complete, but it was well worth the wait. I simply love it.
The room size is 14 x 19 x 8 feet.
The room was designed by a company that specialises in acoustic design. Not the popular Rives Audio, since I live in Europe and that would increase the costs of the Level 3 project well past $10k mark, but a reputable local company.
The room acoustics was was first designed in a digital domain and then improved upon with the real world measurements taken during all stages of construction work.
The room is soundproof and - among other things - features soundproof windows, double doors and 11" thick double walls. The measured noise level inside the room is 26dB during the day (measured during rush hours, at 16:00), so it is almost dead quiet.
The room has two dedicated lines, each rated 20A @ 230V, one for analog and one for digital gear. All cables, circuit breakers and mains outlets are of audiophile quality.
MSB DAC IV Signature with Diamond Power Base - replaced the dCS Scarlatti, which served me as my reference for the past 3 yaers.
MSB S200
Fully balanced 200 Watt stereo amplifier. Class A, Zero Negative Feedback design. Fluid, palpable, a bit on the warm side of things. An amazing piece.
Magico S5
New addition to the system. Replaced Wilson Sasha speakers.
MUSA S21T USB
Computer based transport with SOtM PCIe USB card, SOtM sata filter, fanless PSU, fanless i5 CPU, SSD, 8GB RAM and Synology 2x2TB NAS. Running Win 7/64 with Jriver and Jplay.
AudioQuest WEL Signature
Replaced Tara Labs The RS-1 interconnects.
AudioQuest Diamond USB
USB cable.
Shunyata Anaconda Z-Tron
A new model from Shunyata. Replaced van den Tara Labs RS-1 cable.
Shunyata Anaconda CX
I have two of those, powering Dart and dCS.
Pure Power 2000
Battery powered AC Regenerator.
Finite Elemente Pagode Master Reference HD09
Top of the range component stand from Finite Elemente, with their resonator technology (3 used). I favour those over a 4-tier Pagode rack, since they do not interfere with soundstage when placed between the speakers.
Finite Elemente Ceraballs
I have two sets placed under my speaker cables. Very unussual location, I agree, but works a treat.
Finite Elemente Cerapuc
I have two sets placed under my speakers. A simply stunning improvement in low-level detail retrival and microdynamics. Worth every penny !
HMS Energia SSDB mains outlets
Two of those finish off my two, 230V/20A, dedicated power lines.
AHP Klangmodul 3+
Audiophile circuit breakers. Gold plated, solid copper contacts. Each of the two dedicated power lines has his own breaker.
ACS Diffusors
Diffusors made by german company Acoustic Control Systems. I have 3 sets of those, one on the rear wall and two on the side walls. As you can see on the pic, the whole part of the rear wall, to which the diffusor is attached, pertrudes 12" into the room.
Custom absorbers
The whole room is fitted with custom absorbers, tuned to specific frequencies. The pic shows one of the six absorbers fitted to the front wall. If you look carefully, you wil notice, that there is an MDF plate with lots of small holes fitted inside, which divides the internal volume of the absorber into two smaller chambers. The sound enters the traps by the front gaps, goes to the first empty chamber and then through the holes to the next chamber, where it can dissipate in a mineral fiber (not fitted on this pic).
Custom diffusors
Set of 5 custom diffusors fitted over the listener's head.
RT-60 curve
This is the RT-60 curve of my room. Black trace is our target curve, blue one is base curve (empty room, no acoustic treatment, no floor), red curve shows how the room responded after ACS diffusors, wooden floor and sand stone were added. Green curve is the most recent one. It is still not perfect, but we are working on it.
Room Frequency Response curve
Room Frequency response. Quite nice if you ask me :-)
Daikin ultra quiet A/C unit
Daikin A/C split system replaced McQuay unit. The difference in noise levels generated by those two units is staggering. Daikin is so quiet (22dB) that you can barely hear it from the listening chair. There are CD-players that generate more noise than this ! The other outstanding feature of this unit is that it can work when outside temp drops to 10'F - so it can be used during winter too.
I have read many of your post and have much respect for your opinion. I currently on Sophia II's and would like your opinion on the sonic differences between the Sophia II's and the Sasha's?
In addition, I was curious about your thoughts on Magico V3's vs Sasha's or for that matter Sophia II's vs Magico V2's?
Just once, during Munich Show last year - complete Solution rig with Maxx 3. Sounded very good indeed. I would love to hear solution gear in my system, but unfortunately, there is no distributor in my area. I plan to listen to Solution gear once more, during this year show next month.
As for the Dart - I sold it. I use balanced ICs throughout, and Model One 'A' I had was having ground loop problems when fed with XLR cables. On RCAs it was fine. I was told, that Model One 'B' is recommended to avoid ground loop problems, since it is equipped with input transformer on XLRs - and indeed, when I borrowed friend's Model One B,it was dead quiet. Since I bought it used - I sold it with no loss. I'm planning to borrow it once again (the Model 'B') to see how it works with Sashas in the near future. I may even consider getting another one, but obviously, this time the Model 'B'.
Beautiful system you have and stunning room. Hope I'll ever end up with a dedicated room like you. I'm sure good acoustics can have a bigger impact then a component change.
I thought you were using the Dartzeel amp,but on your recent picture I'm seeing the Ongaku amp. Did you sell your Dart for the Audio Note?
I've had the Dartzeel in the past, loved it too. Unfortunately I never listened to it in combination with the matching Dart pre. Audio virus "forced" me to upgrade :)
Btw, have you ever listened to the Soulution gear?
My impression of Audioquest Sky 72's and Valhalla XLR's mimic your observations...have you every auditioned KS 1130's?
C1ferrari - unfortunately, I did not have a chance.
The folks at Wilson do make a wonderful product...I love your selected color, Desert Silver?
Unoear - This is correct - Desert Silver.
I can't help but notice that your Sashas are on rollers. This is a feature that I thought was only available with Maxx and Alexandria set up. Did the rollers come as part of the Sasha set up kit?
Gpgr4blu - yes, the rollers come with the Sasha. I only wish they throw in the famous Wilson aluminium jack too !
funny how our findings differ. I too have the VPA's and have recently sold the Dartzeel NHB-108 for a pair of brand new Ayre MX-R's, which bettered the Dart in every respect in my system. So I could either keep the VPA's or the Dart, and I chose the VPA's.
Pinkus - it is all prolly system and room dependent. Individual taste plays a role too.
funny how our findings differ. I too have the VPA's and have recently sold the Dartzeel NHB-108 for a pair of brand new Ayre MX-R's, which bettered the Dart in every respect in my system. So I could either keep the VPA's or the Dart, and I chose the VPA's.
Hi Elberoth, I can't help but notice that your Sashas are on rollers. This is a feature that I thought was only available with Maxx and Alexandria set up. Did the rollers come as part of the Sasha set up kit? I take it you will eventually install the spike feet. By the way---great room.
Hi Elberoth2: The Pass XA30.5 is an incredible value amplifier. Retail is something like $5k USD. However, I personally do not understand the concept of a low-powered SS amp. Sure, if you want a no-fuss solution that is built like a tank, then this is an option. But any speaker that can flourish with a relatively low-power amp should look to tubes.
That said, the beauty of the XA.5 series is the incredible power and control as you move up the line. I wonder what the XA100.5s or the XA160.5s would sound like. Sure, many people pair low-powered tubes with Wilson, but I wonder what they would be like when you give them some real juice.
The Dartzeel stereo amp is beautiful and well-regarded. In the US, it is 5-6x more than the XA30.5.
Congrats on your new speakers. DarTZeel with the Wilson's. Let me know how it is for driving the Sasha's. Have the darTZeel pre and am loving it. Take care,
There is review in Stereophile which describes the chracter of the VPA rater well.
In short, this is a very neutral sounding amp, so if you are looking for warm, inviting sound with deeply saturated tonal colors - looks elswere.
The amp offers excellent soundstaging, resolution and microdynamics. Bass is outstanding for a SET design, but SS amps can still do better.
I think that it betters the Pass XA-30.5 I also have, especially with regard to image outlines and sound palpability (this is a typical tube amp trait for me, which is VERY hard to duplicate for SS design). Dartzeel hovewer, is quite a bit better, since it does all VPAs can do, and then some.
Ferrari Red would definately fit my decor ... however knowing problems ppl have selling Wilsons in Red finish, I decided agains it and got the more popular Desert Silver.
I got my Sashas last week but still haven't got a chance to listen to them, not even for a single minute, since I sold my speaker cables 2 weeks ago and now I'm waiting for a new set, LOL.
Sorry for the late reply. I have had the Lamms BEFORE I got both ARC and Wilson speakers, so my comparisions would not be meaningful. At the time, I prefered some SET amps I had at hand. If I were to go Lamm again, I would try their tube offerings - the ML2.1 or ML3 amps.
PS. The Wilson Sasha had arrived. I will post pics soon.
What was it you did not like about the Lamm 1.2 and the Sophia combo ? What was your pre-amp then ? Always had an impression that the lamms & Wilsons go well together. Judging from the way you are upgrading, looks like the Sophia can be quite revealing of gears which can be both good and bad thing. In your opinion, what would be the min gears for the Sophia to make them sound good ?
Hey Elberoth: You've had an all arc set up as do I currently (Ref5, Ref 110 ) with Wilsons ( WP 7s), probably to go to Sashas in next year. I'm thinking about Lamm 1.2 refs or Arc Ref210s to get more slam on bottom end (among other things). You had Lamms and apparently didn't like as much as Arc. What did you find to be the difference?
